


this heart that glows like an ember

by HannahPelham



Series: Christmas 2020 [1]
Category: 15th Century CE RPF, British Royalty RPF, The Sunne in Splendour - Sharon Kay Penman, The White Queen (TV)
Genre: F/M, im a slut for richard and anne, new years/christmas fluff, shut up, yes i know its only october
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-29
Updated: 2020-10-29
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:08:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27265492
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HannahPelham/pseuds/HannahPelham
Summary: Anne Neville and Richard York spend every christmas together with their families, but this year something has changed between them.Unashamed fluff.Title from 'Warm December' by Julie London
Relationships: Anne Neville Queen of England/Richard III of England, Edward IV of England/Elizabeth Woodville, Isabel Neville/George Plantagenet Duke of Clarence
Series: Christmas 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1993585
Comments: 3
Kudos: 10





	this heart that glows like an ember

Anne Neville had known Richard York since she was a little girl. The Nevilles and Yorks had been friends for generations, and as a result, Christmas wasn’t Christmas unless Anne had seen Richard at least once. 

Christmas morning came around, and Anne found herself awake much earlier than normal. She’d dreamt of last christmas, and the sweet present she had received from Richard, a delicate silver bracelet. She’d had a thing for Richard since she was a little girl, and it hadn’t shown any signs at all of disappearing. Anne had somewhat resigned herself to a life in love with Richard York, from a distance. She was sure he’d find someone not at all like her, who he’d fall madly in love with and marry and have lots of sex and babies with. 

Anne walked downstairs, aiming to make a cup of tea and retreat to bed for a couple more hours, but as she reached the kitchen, she could hear the kettle boiling. Assuming it was her early-rising mother Cecily, she took no notice of the fact she was only in her silk nightdress, and walked into the kitchen. It took all her willpower not to shriek and wake up the entire house, when she saw Richard standing there, pouring hot water into the teapot. She cursed herself for not throwing on a dressing gown or jumper or something to cover herself up. 

“Richard! What are you doing here so early?” She asked as he poured her some tea and handed the mug to her. 

“Your mother mentioned to mine that she could do with some help this morning so Mum sent me over to help” He replied, smiling weakly. It was taking a lot of willpower on his part to make sure he looked at Anne’s eyes, and not anywhere else. 

“That’s very kind of you, and thanks for the tea” Anne said, trying to end the conversation so she could run upstairs, out of Richard’s view. 

Richard couldn’t help but stare as Anne walked back up the stairs towards her bedroom. He’d been fond of her for years, and had had a proper grown up crush on her for a couple of years, since their joint 18th birthday party a few years before. 

Richard tried to distract himself from thoughts of Anne as Anne Neville Sr appeared, ready to put him to work peeling potatoes for their lunch.

The distraction worked rather well until Anne emerged, dressed in an emerald green velvet dress, ready to help too. He could hardly keep his eyes off her. 

Anne finally had time to look at Richard, who was looking as dapper as she’d ever seen him, in a crisp white shirt and black slacks. It was simple, but it made him look a million dollars. Or at least, Anne thought it did. 

Anne helped by making the stuffing, amongst other things, bustling around the kitchen with Richard. Every now and then their hands or arms would touch, reaching for the same thing, and Anne swore she could feel bolts of electricity every time she touched him. Little did she know, of course, that Richard was feeling exactly the same. His heart was beating at a hundred miles an hour, being that close to Anne, especially when she looked as good as she did. 

Christmas itself went off without a hitch, and everyone had one of the best christmases they’d ever had. Anne, though, found herself spending the day trying not to look at Richard. She didn’t want to get called out by her sister Isabel, who was also the girlfriend of Richard’s elder brother George. The final brother, Edward, and his girlfriend Elizabeth Woodville were also there. They were nicer than Isabel and George, but Anne was sure they would join in with any teasing in her direction. She had always been the least liked, and it didn’t always bother her, but when she was having such intense feelings in Richard’s direction, she didn’t think she could take it. 

The Yorks left as it was heading towards midnight, and as the door closed behind them, Anne felt like she could breathe again. She poured herself a glass of wine and went to her bedroom, looking out of the window for a moment. From her room, you could see over into Richard’s room. The light was off, so she guessed he was still downstairs drinking and chatting with his family. 

Eventually, Anne was so tired she could hardly keep her eyes open, so she threw on her pyjamas and fell into bed, forgetting to shut her curtains. Though she didn’t know it, Richard had been closing his as she’d changed, and caught a glimpse of her in her underwear. He’d looked away as soon as he’d realised, but he couldn’t help but smile at the memory. If that was the closest he ever got to seeing Anne like that, he thought he’d be ok. 

The time between Christmas and New Year, this year christened ‘betwixtmas’ by Isabel, who had just returned from art school in Paris with a new, posher, more refined view on life than when she’d left, was spent playing board games. Hundreds of games of scrabble were played by Anne and Richard, who spent the entire week falling in love with each other. Richard was already in love with Anne, he reasoned, once he realised. He told himself he’d always loved her, which was true, but he’d finally realised. 

Anne had had a similar revelation, when she was sipping a baileys hot chocolate Richard had made for her, whilst trying to come up with the rudest word she could with the letters available to her. It was at that moment that she realised she was in love with Richard. It was that that made her want to do something about it. Before it had just been she fancied him, she was fond of him, but now she’d realised she was actually in love, she knew she had to do something. 

New Years Eve presented Richard with a fantastic opportunity to do something about his feelings. He ended up spending most of the evening with Anne. His parents had invited lots of their friends, and their children, who were all around Richard’s age. They brought boyfriends and girlfriends and partners and that was fine by Richard, as long as he didn’t have to make smalltalk. He’d helped his mother with some DIY the day before, and his shoulder (always dicky because of a childhood injury) was hurting. The only person he wanted to speak to was Anne. When she arrived, in a red silky dress, Richard was sure he’d died and gone to heaven. He’d never seen her look as fantastic as she did in that moment, and he knew he had to tell her.

“You look amazing” He said quietly when she made her way over to him. He’d intended to be a little bit more gushing than that, but the nerves had taken over quickly. 

“So do you” Anne replied. Richard looked exactly how he had on Christmas day, and Anne was almost glad to have found an opportunity to tell him. 

They spent most of the evening at at the York’s kitchen table, snacking on various things laid out by Cecily, and talking about their work. They were both recent university graduates, Richard trying to make it as a writer, and Anne as an artist. Richard promised to name a character after her if she painted a portrait of him. 

As the clock ticked towards midnight, Richard found himself getting more and more nervous. Anne had wandered off to speak to her father, Warwick. He was also called Richard, as was Richard’s late father, so he was referred to by his birthplace so everyone didn’t get mixed up. 

It was three minutes to midnight, and Richard was getting stressed. His whole plan involved kissing Anne at midnight, and suddenly she was nowhere to be seen. He looked out of the kitchen window to see her stood outside, halfway down a covered walkway lit with fairy lights that led to the gate that connected the York’s garden to the Neville’s. He wandered outside to find her, and snapped a quick photo before she noticed. The dim light made her look ethereal, and Richard had an inkling his plan might work. 

They could hear the countdown from the house, people shouting as the clock prepared to strike twelve. 

“Anne” Richard whispered, on two. As the cheers of the crowd inside were heard, Richard carefully leant down and pressed his lips to Anne’s. To his delight, she instantly kissed him back, her arms quickly thrown around his neck. He spun her around as he smiled into the kiss, unable to believe that this woman was really in his arms, and he really was kissing her. 

“Happy New Year, Richard” Anne whispered, between kisses. 

“Happy New Year, Anne” Richard replied. 

When he woke up the next morning, Richard was delighted to find Anne curled into his side. He carefully extracted himself, and threw on a pair of underpants. Anne woke slowly as he crawled back into bed. She tucked her head in underneath his, her head resting on his chest. They imagined they’d had the most eventful new years eve, and were excited to share their news with everyone. 

When they made their way downstairs for breakfast, however, it turned out that hadn’t been the case. Whilst Richard and Anne had been out in the garden, on the stroke of midnight, eldest brother Edward had proposed to his girlfriend Elizabeth, and she’d said yes. A few moments after that, Isabel announced that she and George were having their first baby. In the grand scheme of things, Richard and Anne getting together after years of pining wasn’t really news, and everyone had guessed they loved each other so what did it matter?

As Anne and Richard watched the sun go down, snuggled underneath a blanket on a bench in the Neville’s garden, they knew that this was going to be the best year yet.


End file.
